My daughter is a deep thinker, she’s interested in science and math. She likes to take a challenge and find a solution. If I want to talk with her about politics, I usually have to frame it as a challenge, a question. So, the other day, I thought I could sneak in a conversation about the upcoming election by asking her opinion about why people vote for certain candidates. But the conversation really didn’t last very long. After a few moments of talking about polls and studies, she simply said that none of that really matters because people will always vote for a person they like.

And, with that, she was satisfied she had answered my question. But she actually raised a number of questions for me. Is likeability really that important? Does it trump other factors? And how does it affect voter perceptions about a candidate?

I was searching for answers, so of course, the first place I went was social media, where I did a completely unscientific poll on my Facebook page. I asked my Facebook friends, “How important is it to you that you like the candidate you vote for?” Within minutes, I got a variety of responses. They ranged from “a candidate doesn’t always have to be likeable in absolute terms ... just more likable than their opponent,” to “if people don’t like you, they’re unlikely to vote for you, even if they agree with you.”

One person replied: “It can be dangerous to elect someone just because you like them. It’s more important to know what they stand for.” But generally, the overall responses were pretty much summed up by one friend who simply stated that likeability is a “huge factor.”

As a graduate student at Emerson College in Boston, I majored in political communication, the study of communication during campaigns and throughout governing. Communication influences public opinion, and I spent a lot of time dissecting exactly how communication impacts us. I studied different elections, candidates and office holders, looking at the way they communicated with the general public. I studied how the candidates spoke, including their vocal expressions, tone of voice, articulation and even rate of speech. I studied how different candidates presented themselves through their actions, their clothes, their ads, written materials and policy statements.

And, as we know, all the different ways a candidate communicates – verbally and nonverbally – do in fact impact how they are perceived. So, when looking at all the different factors, we may ask exactly how are the voters being impacted? And does it matter? Do voters perceive a candidate to be “down to earth,” or at the other extreme, “out of touch”? Do voters perceive a candidate to be “credible and believable,” or does the candidate appear to be “deceptive and untrustworthy”? Would voters want to “hang out” with a candidate?

One of my Facebook friends noted that voting may “be about who you would rather have a beer with.” His statement was a reference to the John Kerry and George W. Bush election. During that election, there were actual “who’d-you-prefer-to-have-a-beer-with” polls. Routinely, George W. Bush would win that poll. People in those surveys reportedly used the term “nice guy” to describe Bush.

And remember the 1988 debate between Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Vice President George H.W. Bush? Dukakis provided a rather cold response when asked if he would favor the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered. It was suggested that the governor lost that debate, and maybe even the election, because he failed to project likeability.

A study in 2008 by Jason Teven, “An Examination of Perceived Credibility of the 2008 Presidential Candidates: Relationships with Believability, Likeability, and Deceptiveness,” examined the perceived credibility of the 2008 presidential candidates and the relationship between voter perceptions of candidate likeability, credibility, believability and deceptiveness. Teven found that candidate likeability and believability have significant, positive relationships with voter perceptions of candidate credibility, competence, goodwill and trustworthiness. The study also suggests that early impressions of a candidate serve as “stable touchstones” throughout the election.

So, it seems that likeability is indeed important. And, as the cliché suggests, first impressions can be lasting. It’s important for a candidate to work from the beginning to establish rapport with voters, engage and connect on a personal level. When I served in office, I would talk to constituents who told me that they disagreed with me on a particular issue, but because they liked me, they knew I was working hard and they were willing to disagree with me on a vote and still support me overall. My experience illustrates comments from a Facebook friend that people will vote “for you if they like you, even if they disagree with you.”

So, although I don’t think likeability is the only factor that affects voters, to sum up, I’ll quote a telling comment from another Facebook friend who simply asked, “why vote for someone you don’t like?’